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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Boeing satellite-making operation in El Segundo turns 50

Boeing Co.'s sprawling satellite-making operation in El Segundo celebrated its 50th anniversary Wednesday with an event attended by high-ranking company officials, local media and politicians.

Since it was first opened in 1961, the plant has produced satellites used for research, exploration, communication, navigation, entertainment, intelligence and surveillance.

The El Segundo plant encompasses more than 1 million square feet and belonged to Hughes Space and Communications Co. before it became part of Boeing in 2000.

“We made history in the 1960s, when our team of scientists designed and built the first geosynchronous satellite, which launched the satellite industry,” said Boeing's Craig Cooning, Space & Intelligence Systems vice president and general manager, in a statement.

The company is developing sport-utility-sized satellites that are part of an $8-billion GPS upgrade that will make the system more reliable, more widespread and more accurate.

Boeing’s workforce at the plant currently stands at around 5,500. It has backlog of 27 orders. At its peak in the 1990s, Boeing had employed more than 10,000 at the complex, which is near Los Angeles International Airport.

The operation began experiencing a resurgence last year, snagging orders for several large commercial satellites, placing the company atop the large commercial satellite market.

U.S. Rep. Janice Hahn, a Democrat whose district includes El Segundo, made a speech at Wednesday's event.

"There's not a day goes by that someone on this planet doesn’t benefit from the satellites you produce," said Hahn. "This facility is key to the industrial base here in the South Bay and helps to anchor the aerospace industry in Southern California. It is a national asset that has produced nearly 300 satellites -- everything from the first communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit to the most recent GPS IIF satellite that was launched last month."

Take a look inside All Nippon Airways' 787 Dreamliner ... Is that a bidet?

Boeing lays off 100 workers in Huntington Beach due to end of space shuttle program

-- W.J. Hennigan

twitter.com/wjhenn

Photo: A commercial satellite under construction for Intelsat will go through a series of rigorous tests at the El Segundo facility. Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times

Legislators vote to audit controversial bond agencies

California legislators voted to open an official probe of two controversial state agencies that channel money earned from issuing municipal bonds to private companies.

Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) in May requested the audit of the California Statewide Communities Development Authority (CSCDA) and the California Municipal Financial Authority (CMFA).

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee approved the request on an 8-to-3 vote Wednesday and will now conduct a full review of both agencies.

The CSCDA has grown over the last two decades into one of the largest issuers of municipal bonds in the country. It specializes in so-called conduit bonds, which allow public agencies to raise money through tax-free bonds and then channel that money to private businesses and nonprofit organizations.

At most public agencies the fees collected for issuing such bonds are used to fund other public projects and programs. The CSCDA is a public agency but it passes along most of the fees it collects -- $32 million in the last two years -- to HB Capital Resources, a private company in Walnut Creek, Calif.

A Los Angeles County staff report concluded in 2008 that the CSCDA was a "shell entity operated solely by a private contractor."

CSCDA has disputed that characterization and said it is run by a board of public officials.

The CMFA was created more recently on a similar business model with guidance from former HB Capital employees.

The business model has come under scrutiny from more traditional municipal bond issuers, The Times reported in May at the same time that Feuer issued his call for an audit.

"There are many unanswered questions about how these two joint-powers authorities operate and whether they adequately protect the public’s investment of scarce tax dollars," Feuer said Wednesday after the vote. "I am pleased that we are moving forward with a more extensive review today."

Neither agency responded to a request for comment.

The audit is expected to take several months.

IRS panel recommends greater oversight of conduit bonds

Private firm HB Capital Resources has rich role in municipal bonds

-- Nathaniel Popper

Owner of Daikokuya ramen restaurant pays $145,000 in overtime back wages

Employees working overtime to serve the crowds at Little Tokyo’s Daikokuya ramen restaurant weren’t properly paid for their extra hours, according to a government agency.

Los Angeles-based Daikokuya owner Bishamon Group Restaurants will pay $145,000 in back wages to 66 employees, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The agency’s wage and hour division found violations at seven of the company’s sites in Monterey Park, Covina, Arcadia, Costa Mesa and downtown Los Angeles. Investigators found that dishwashers, prep cooks and cooks working overtime weren’t being paid their mandated time-and-a-half wages.

Most of the employees affected were Spanish-speakers; the rest spoke Japanese.

“Our law protects workers regardless of their immigration status,” said Kimchi Bui, district director for the wage and hour division’s Los Angeles branch. “But these violations are very common. Our hope is to make sure there’s a fair playing field out there.”

As of February, there are 257,000 restaurant workers in Los Angeles County, according to the agency.

New study expected to paint bleak picture of how L.A. restaurant workers are treated

-- Tiffany Hsu

twitter.com/tiffhsulatimes

Photo: Daikokuya in downtown L.A.'s bustling Little Tokyo. Sixty-six employees at the restaurant were not paid properly for extra hours worked, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

Regulatory group warns of gold scams

First came the boom. Then came the scams. Now comes the warning.

Individuals who have become enamored of gold amid the dramatic rise in the price of the precious metal should be on the lookout for investment traps hatched by con artists, according a warning issued Wednesday by a financial-industry regulatory group.

As the price of gold pushed to a series of record highs this year, various scams have been hatched to lure unsophisticated small investors, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said in a warning posted on its website.

“Even a cursory Internet search will pull up numerous websites, blog posts, investment newsletters and social media posts (including YouTube videos and Tweets) devoted to the topic of investing in gold,” the warning says. “But some of the stocks and opportunities being promoted have precious little value, and others are outright frauds.”

Authorities already have cracked down on a number of scams.

The Securities and Exchange Commission brought action against a Florida company that claimed a mining project in Ecuador had turned up gold reserves worth more than $1 billion.

In another case, the agency alleged that a Ponzi scheme bilked 3,000 investors out of $300 million. The six people charged with running the scam used free-lunch seminars to entice victims to invest retirement savings and home equity, according to the SEC.

Investors should be dubious of claims that a company’s stock price is certain to rise simply because gold prices are going up, according to the FINRA warning.

People also should be wary of companies that alter their names to associate them with gold, according to FINRA. For example, a company that claimed to do gold mining was formerly in the golfing business.

Perhaps the best disincentive could be a fall in the price of gold.

After surging dramatically over the last two months, gold fell sharply on Wednesday. Gold suffered the biggest fall in more than three years, sinking $103.60, or 5.6%, to $1,757.70.

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-- Walter Hamilton

Photo: Gold bullion at a smelting facility in India. Credit: Manjunath Kiran / EPA

Top retail districts show strength in first half

The economic downturn took a toll on landlords in the country’s most elite urban shopping districts such as Fifth Avenue and Rodeo Drive, but merchants came bustling back in the first half of 2011, a real estate brokerage said.

“The pronounced decrease in rents and increase in vacancy rates over the past few years have created opportunities for well-positioned retailers,” said Nina Kampler of CB Richard Ellis. “With tightened availability in the best locations, asking rents either stabilized or rose and tenants have been willing to pay top money for the prime spaces.”

New York’s Fifth Avenue continues to be the top retail destination in the United States, with high national and international brands actively seeking sites. Notable transactions in the first half of the year include Zara’s purchase of the former NBA store at 666 Fifth Ave. for about $400 million.

The Beverly Hills retail market remains tight with little availability along Rodeo Drive. By the end of the 2011, the blocks of Rodeo should be 98% occupied with asking rents of $500 per square foot per year. The newest tenants to the market include Lanvin, Agent Provocateur, Vertu and Richard Mille.

The volume of leases in San Francisco’s Union Square district picked up in 2011 while rents remained flat, Kampler said. Much of the leasing activity has moved south toward the Westfield San Francisco Centre on Market Street, which recently reported annual sales of $679 per square foot, nearly double the national average for malls.

-- Roger Vincent

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Toys R Us to open 21 new stores this year

Old Navy T-shirts arent spelled right. We mean aren't.

Photo: Westfield San Francisco Centre on Market Street. Credit: Los Angeles Times

In big turnaround, Bank of America stock soars

The Bank of America Corp. roller coaster has reversed course again, with its stock up as much as 11% and a host of analysts saying capital fears are overblown.

The shares, which fell to a two-and-a-half-year low of $6.30 on Tuesday, jumped as high as $6.97 on Wednesday morning before backing off a bit. They were up 59 cents, or 9%, at $6.89 in early afternoon trading in New York.

Hammered by short sellers, who make money when stocks go down, Bank of America stock took its latest blow this week when a blog said it might need $100 billion to $200 billion in new capital.

The bank issued a point-by-point rebuttal, saying blogger Henry Blodget had gotten his facts entirely wrong. Many observers agreed, with RBC Capital Markets analyst Joe Morford saying the stock price "has been detached from the fundamentals" and is now trading on rumors.

Independent bank analyst Meredith Whitney helped touch off the rally in BofA shares Wednesday morning by telling Bloomberg radio that the bank has no urgent need to raise capital and that Chief Executive Brian Moynihan is "the right guy for the job."

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Doubts drag down Bank of America's stock

-- E. Scott Reckard

Photo: Bank of America headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. Credit: Davis Turner / Getty Images

California offers "Top Gun" and "Lost Boys" to draw English tourists

The California Travel and Tourism Commission has recruited Goose, Maverick and a bunch of vampires to help draw tourists from England to the Golden State.

In the latest campaign to promote the state's $95-billion tourism industry, the commission has partnered with a British entertainment firm to show the iconic 1980s movies, "Top Gun" and "The Lost Boys" at London's Canary Wharf on Sept. 3-4.

Both movies were set in California. Although "The Lost Boys" was set in a fictitious California beach town called "Santa Carla," much of the movie was filmed in Santa Cruz. "Top Gun" was set at the Top Gun Naval Flying School in San Diego.

The films will be shown by Future Cinema, a live-event company that shows movies at unusual locations in England.

The idea behind the campaign is to promote a California lifestyle and spark interest in visiting the state.

About 683,000 travelers from Britain visited California in 2010, most of them for vacation. Visitors from Britain and Ireland generate $688 million in spending annually, according the California Travel and Tourism Commission.

-- Hugo Martin

Photo: Anthony Edwards as Goose and Tom Cruise as Maverick in the 1986 movie "Top Gun." Credit: Paramount Pictures